‘Hot priests’ keep Italian news stands afloat

THEY are as much a part of the urban fabric as red fire hydrants in New York City or pavement cafés in Paris.

No street corner or cobbled piazza in Italy is complete without an edicola,a kiosk that sells newspapers, magazines and tram tickets.

But thousands of them have vanished in recent decades, falling prey to the pressures of mass tourism and the decline of newspaper sales.

Now, in a desperate attempt to stay afloat, many have resorted to selling cheap tat such as plastic centurion helmets and “hot priest” calendars featuring handsome young Vatican prelates.

Big cities such as Rome, Milan and Naples have been particularly badly hit by the kiosk closures – last year alone, 54 shut in the capital.

One of them is located in a cobbled lane called Vicolo De’ Modelli, right in front of the Trevi Fountain, which is among Rome’s most visited tourist sites.

Owned by the same family for a century, it once did a thriving trade but recently closed and now sits forlorn and abandoned, its shutters locked. Elsewhere in the Eternal City, kiosks that once saw vendors peer out from behind books and magazines have notably switched to catering for tourists.

One of the main reasons for the demise is the steep decline in the number of newspapers and magazines that Italians buy. People now get their news on their phones, tablets and computers instead of buying daily papers.

In 2007, more than five million newspapers were sold in Italy each day. That number has fallen to around two million, according to the Federation of Italian Newspapers. Across the country, a quarter of towns and villages have nowhere to buy a newspaper.

Daniel Polacco, 31, who with his father owns a classic octagonal kiosk near Rome’s Largo Argentina, said: “We used to sell 600 or 700 papers a day, nowadays we’re lucky to sell 150.”

Kiosks at the heart of historic centres of cities such as Rome, Florence and Venice have fallen forgotten, as locals have become increasingly dedicated to tourism. However, the rate of closures has slowed over the past two years as kiosks still remain a vital focal point for social life in local neighbourhoods.